By Killer Tri
I recently spent a week at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. This 7 day testing and assessment camp creates a unique experience for pro-elite athletes to analyze their strength, correct their weaknesses, and discover a new level of performance in all aspects of triathlon. I was fortunate enough to work with some of the top coaches and professionals at the Olympic Training Center including Sports Psychologist Dr. Suzie Riewald. I really enjoyed working with Suzie and while I think I already had a good understanding of the mental skills important to success, she helped us identify and analyze each one. Suzie then taught us how to purposefully and effectively implement these skills into our training and racing. The following are what I believe to be the most important mental skills and characteristics important to success.
Internal Motivation – An athlete must be self-motivated and have a strong inner drive in order to succeed. This has to come within the athlete themselves and is a quality that is hard to teach. Without internal motivation, an athlete is unlikely to exhibit many of the other qualities listed here.
Discipline – In order to achieve excellence an athlete must be fully committed to achieving their goal and be willing to make sacrifices on a daily basis. They must be efficient with time management and pay careful attention to detail. They must not be easily distracted or persuaded by others.
Focus – In order to have a focus an athlete must set goals. Workouts and training need to have purpose and each one should have an individual focus leading towards the ultimate goal. While racing, it is extremely important that an athlete remain engaged with, and focused on the task at hand in order to succeed.
Self Confidence – In order to maximize performance an athlete must have a sincere belief in their ability to succeed. They must have trust in themselves, their coach, and the overall plan. One must look for and feed off success in their training and racing while not dwelling on failure.
Patience – Success does not happen overnight, so it is essential that an athlete is able to carry out a long term plan and keep the big picture in mind. Advancing one step at a time is critical to development. While racing there are times where it is necessary to employ patience and properly pace yourself in order to maximize performance.
Disassociation – It is critical to have ability to focus on what you can control and disassociate yourself from what you cannot control. Staying in the present with inner focus and not harping on past or future will allow an athlete to excel.
Discomfort/Suffering – In the highest level of sport there are very minute differences between the best athletes, therefore mental strength plays an enormous role in an athlete’s ability to perform. In training and racing it is inevitable that fatigue and discomfort will set in. Athletes that are willing to push outside their comfort zones and suffer more than their competitors are the most likely to achieve greatness.
Versatile – Every athlete will face adversity in their training and racing. The ability to adapt to the specific demands of a workout or race is essential. An athlete that is able to handle a challenging situation and stay flexible with their plan will likely have an advantage on their competition.
Manage Pressure – The ability to manage pressure is paramount. Every elite athlete is inevitably placed under pressure from fans, family, friends, coaches, opponents, themselves, etc. While pressure may signify the magnitude of the event, it should not have a direct effect on the outcome.
Visualization – Mental imagery and mental preparation are essential to success. Each component of the event must be mentally rehearsed. If an athlete can visualize every aspect of the race then it will be second nature when they need to perform.
It’s my belief that sports psychology has a much larger impact on performance than most people realize or would like to believe. These skills should not be looked at as something good to practice in addition to your swim/bike/run, but something that should be incorporated into all aspects of your training and racing. Just like other skills many of these can be and developed with planning and practice.
